2 young Indian-Americans crowned US Spelling Bee champions

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PTI

May 27, 2016

UPDATED: May 27, 2016 15:55 IST

From Lalit K Jha

Washington, May 27 (PTI) Scripting history, two Indian- American children today won the prestigious spelling bee, with one of them also becoming its youngest winner, as the communitys complete dominance continued in the annual contest that turned tougher this year.

Jairam Jagadeesh Hathwar, 13, and Nihar Saireddy Janga, 11, jointly lifted the trophy after being declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee as the tense final ended in a tie for the third year in a row.

Seven of the last 10 finalists were Indian-Americans despite a tougher competition this year that witnessed longer final rounds.

Fifth grader Nihar is from Texas, while seventh grader Jairam is from New York.

Nihar has also become the youngest winner of the bee on record.

"I am just speechless. I cant say anything. I am only in fifth grade," Nihar said with the trophy in his hand as he attributed his success to his mother.

"My mom. Its just my mom," he said.

Eighth grader Snehaa Ganesh Kumar from California, who had tied for fourth place last year, came third.

The other four Indian-Americans among the finalists were Rutvik Gandhasri, Sreeniketh Vogoti, Jashun Paluru and Smirithi Upadhyayula.

Jairam attributed his success to his brother Sriram, who was 2014 co-champion.

"He (brother) won the Spelling bee. This was such an inspiration," Jairam said, adding that if he had not won the Spelling Bee he would not have been on this stage.

This is for the ninth successive year that Indian- Americans won the prestigious Scripps Spelling Bee and 13th in the last 16 years.

Last year, Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were declared co-champions. In 2014, Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe were declared the joint winners.

A fan of American professional golfer Jordan Spieth, Jairam follows politics and elections devoutly. He also travels to India annually during summers, and this year, he is looking forward to seeing the Mount Everest. At school, Jairam is especially interested in mathematics and social studies.

He hopes to attend Harvard University to study medicine someday so that he can become a physician.

Nihar loves spelling, and he puts a lot of determination and dedication into learning new words. He also enjoys playing football with his best friends and playing video games ? especially his favourite, Batman: Arkham City.

He likes movies that motivate him to become "a beneficially influential citizen". He aspires to be a neurosurgeon who can develop many cures for serious brain disorders.